Iraqi security forces have killed a high-ranking commander of the ISIS Takfiri terrorist group and detained more than a dozen other terrorists during a counter-terrorism operation in the country’s northern province of Nineveh as government troops and allied fighters from Popular Mobilization Units are trying to purge the Arab country of the last remnants of the terror outfit.

AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Iraqi security forces have killed a high-ranking commander of the ISIS Takfiri terrorist group and detained more than a dozen other terrorists during a counter-terrorism operation in the country’s northern province of Nineveh as government troops and allied fighters from Popular Mobilization Units are trying to purge the Arab country of the last remnants of the terror outfit.

“Troops from the Nineveh Operations Command launched a major security campaign in Badush district, northeast of Mosul, and managed to kill a senior ISIS leader,” Provincial police officer Major Azad Fouad told Arabic-language Dijlah television network on Sunday.

“The troops also arrested 17 ISIS militants,” Fouad said, adding that a large amount of munitions and firearms were seized from the Takfiris as well.

Turkey’s president has warned the US it has made a "grave mistake" asking for protection for Kurdish fighters battling Islamic State in Syria and threatened once again to launch an assault against them.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who considers the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) terrorists, said Turkey would “not make concessions” and said preparations for an offensive were nearly complete.

"John Bolton has made a grave mistake on this issue,” a furious Mr Erdogan told parliament as the US national security adviser arrived in Ankara for talks with Turkish officials. “The (YPG’s) fight with Islamic State in Syria is a huge lie."

Mr Bolton was in Turkey on Tuesday as part of a tour of the Middle East with Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, aimed at limiting damage over the announcement by Donald Trump, the US president, that he would remove its troops from Syria.

Such a move would leave YPG allies, whose fighters have led a coalition to defeat Isil, exposed to a Turkish attack.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have hatched a plan with Israel to welcome Syrian President Bashar al-Assad back into the Arab League to marginalise the regional influence of Turkey and Iran, Middle East Eye can exclusively reveal.

The diplomatic initiative was agreed at a secret meeting held in a Gulf capital last month which was attended by senior intelligence officials from the four countries including Yossi Cohen, the director of Mossad, Gulf sources with knowledge of the meeting have told MEE.

The meeting was also convened in response to a noticeable “cooling” of relations between US President Donald Trump and Riyadh since the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

*snip*

The officials also agreed at the meeting that they considered Turkey, rather than Iran, to be their major military rival in the region, and discussed plans to counter Ankara’s influence.

The Israelis told the meeting that Iran could be contained militarily, but that Turkey had a far greater capability. In the meeting Cohen is reported to have said: “Iranian power is fragile. The real threat comes from Turkey."

To tackle these issues, those present at the meeting agreed four measures.

Talks with the Taliban

The first was to help Trump in his efforts to withdraw US forces from Afghanistan, where about 14,000 American soldiers remain deployed in support of Afghan government forces fighting the Taliban and militant groups.

A meeting between US officials and Taliban officials was held in Abu Dhabi the following week in talks which included Saudi, Emirati and Pakistani officials.

The second measure was “to control the Sunni card” in Iraq, by which was meant efforts to minimise the influence of Turkey among the Alliance of the National Axis, the largest parliamentary bloc of Sunni Iraqi deputies.

*snip*

Path back to the Arab League for Assad

The third measure discussed was a diplomatic initiative to restore full diplomatic relations between the three Arab states and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The meeting of intelligence chiefs discussed the message they wanted to convey to Assad, who has relied heavily on Iranian military support and Tehran-backed Hezbollah fighters during the country’s civil war.

“They did not expect Bashar to break relations with Iran, but they wanted Bashar to use the Iranians rather than be used by them,” a Gulf official briefed on the discussions said.

“The message was: ‘Return back to how your father treated the Iranians, at least as an equal at the table, rather than subservient to Iranian interests.’”

A flurry of visits followed the intelligence meeting. Omar al-Bashir, the president of Sudan, arrived in Damascus on 16 December in the first official visit by an Arab leader since 2011 and a move that, according to Syria analyst Kamal Alam writing in MEE, could not have happened without a nod from Riyadh.

*snip*

Support for Kurds against Turkey

The fourth measure agreed on at the meeting was to support Syria’s Kurds against Turkey’s attempts to expel the YPG and its political counterpart, the PYD, from the Turkish border right up to the Iraqi border.

The intelligence officials also agreed to strengthen relations with Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and prevent any reconciliation with Ankara since the semi-autonomous region’s failed independence referendum in 2017.

"The Saudis themselves do not want to be in the vanguard of this diplomatic push to court Assad. However they agree with the policy of attempting to lever Assad to weaken Turkey," the official said.

Key Takeaway: Russia and Iran have begun to exploit the new strategic environment created by the forthcoming withdrawal of the U.S. from Syria (map). Russia, Iran, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad mobilized additional units to the Middle Euphrates River Valley in Eastern Syria in late December 2018.[1] These reinforcements - which included elite units of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) as well as elements of the Russian Armed Forces - are postured to cross the Euphrates River and seize valuable oil-rich terrain currently held by the U.S. Anti-ISIS Coalition and allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Russia and Assad also deployed reinforcements to block an imminent offensive by Turkey against the SDF in Manbij in Northern Syria on December 28. These deployments are not included in this graphic’s field of view. The Russo-Iranian Coalition likely intends to deter further gains by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan while it engineers a political reconciliation between the SDF and Damascus.

The Russo-Iranian Coalition is also using the announced withdrawal to coopt partners and allies of the U.S. in Syria and Iraq. The SDF has recognized that it cannot withstand combined pressure from Russia, Iran, Syria, and Turkey without the support of the U.S. Anti-ISIS Coalition. It has reopened talks - albeit from a weaker bargaining position - regarding a diplomatic resolution with Assad. It has also called for further pro-regime deployments to secure the Syrian-Turkish Border. The ultimate outcome of these negotiations will likely include the handover of large parts of Northern and Eastern Syria to the Russo-Iranian Coalition. Meanwhile, concerns over border security have also drawn Iraq closer to the Russo-Iranian Coalition. Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mehdi dispatched a high-ranking delegation led by Iran-friendly Iraqi National Security Advisor Falih al-Fayyadh to Damascus on December 30. Assad authorized Iraq to conduct unilateral cross-border airstrikes against ISIS in Syria. Russia and Iran will likely attempt to encourage these deepening ties as yet another vector to increase their influence over the Government of Iraq and develop regional power projection capability at the expense of the U.S. in the Middle East.

The Defense Department has quietly halted its practice of issuing detailed “strike releases,” periodic reports that provided information about bombings targeting Islamic State fighters, buildings, and equipment in Iraq and Syria.

The change comes as the U.S. military has ramped up its bombing offensive against ISIS in eastern Syria following President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement of a troop withdrawal last month. While many of the U.S.-led coalition’s actions against ISIS were shrouded in secrecy, the strike releases, which the military has been issuing since the start of the campaign against ISIS in 2014, were valuable tools for watchdogs that work to corroborate reports of civilian casualties.

“The only claim I’ve seen publicly made is that with ISIS almost beat, there’s less need for detailed releases,” said Chris Woods, the founder of Airwars, a London-based nonprofit that monitors and assesses civilian harm from bombing campaigns in Iraq, Syria, and Libya. “Yet both strikes and civilian harm are at their highest levels since Raqqa. Reducing transparency is entirely counterproductive in our view.”

*snip*

In announcing the policy change, the U.S. military said frequent strike releases were not necessary due to “the degradation of ISIS” and “decreased kinetic activities against the terrorist organization.”

But this explanation doesn’t match the reality on the ground; though ISIS has lost much of its territory, the group continues to fight back in the sliver of Syria that remains under its control. On Tuesday, a suicide bombing by ISIS killed nine of the group’s militants and 23 members of the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led group leading the charge against ISIS on the ground.

The military’s rationale for curbing strike releases also contradicts statements by its own officials. In a January 3 statement provided to The Intercept, the Defense Department acknowledged an “increase in strikes in late December” targeting ISIS in eastern Syria. The Defense Department did not respond to questions about changes to strike releases. Instead, Defense Department officials on Tuesday provided a statement that again acknowledged the increased strikes in December against ISIS. “We will continue in our mission until we and our partners have achieved an enduring defeat of ISIS,” the statement read.

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s large and well-armed Shiite militias are now running many of the Sunni areas they helped liberate from the Islamic State, fostering local resentments that could fuel a resurgence of support for the extremist group.

After winning nearly a third of the seats in parliamentary elections last year, the Shiite militias, including several ideologically aligned with Iran, are enjoying unprecedented military and political power in Iraq.

Their ascension has raised concerns among Iraqi politicians, Sunni residents and U.S. officials that the militia leaders are creating a parallel state that undermines Iraq’s central government and revives the kind of Sunni grievances that underpinned the Islamic State’s dramatic rise three years ago.

During the fight to oust the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State, Shiite militias mobilized to secure holy places and then grew into effective front-line fighters involved in nearly every important battle. They gained legal status in Iraq under the banner of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), bringing 50 militias and approximately 150,000 fighters under nominal government control.

Now, with major combat over, the militias — some with roots dating back to the Saddam Hussein era, others that emerged to fight U.S. occupation after 2003 and yet others that formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State — are setting their sights on political and economic goals.

*snip*

Under Iraqi law, the PMF is a security force separate from the Iraqi armed forces and police and is technically under the command of the prime minister. In practice, the groups answer to the leaders of individual militias.

Iraq’s new prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, has shown little sign of wanting to rein them in. He has given the militias concessions his predecessor, Haider al-Abadi, resisted and has repeatedly spoken of the militias as a valued part of the country’s political and security establishment.

“If that is your plan, that’s going to lead to instability,” warned a Western official based in Baghdad, who was granted anonymity to speak frankly about the militias. “Some Sunnis have bought into it for the time being, because they say we don’t really have a choice.”

But Shiite militia control over the lives of Sunnis will surely prompt some to seek common cause with the Sunni militants of the Islamic State, the official said.

In November, PMF militias secured a major political victory. Abdul Mahdi agreed to a draft proposal that would put PMF salaries on the same scale as those of Iraq’s police and regular armed forces and double the annual budget of the militias to $2 billion.

Abdul Mahdi has also been unable to block the nomination of PMF leader Falih Alfayyadh as interior minister by a parliamentary faction of militia leaders, a move that has been repeatedly challenged by other lawmakers as well as by Moqtada al-Sadr, the powerful Shiite cleric whose electoral ticket won the most seats in parliament.

after years of trying to ruin syria, including by intentionally creating & supporting ISIL for that specific purpose, now it looks like the US & also saudi arabia support syria's return to the arab league, mainly to counter the influence of iran & turkey. this will hopefully happen before the tunis meeting of the arab league which is happening in march

russia says that the US plan to pull out of syria is the correct one & stresses that control of those areas should be transferred to the syrian government. they have little confidence in the withdrawl because they have not seen an official strategy so far

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House's national security team last fall asked the Pentagon to provide it with options for striking Iran after a group of militants aligned with Tehran fired mortars into an area in Baghdad that is home to the U.S. Embassy, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.

The request by the National Security Council, which is led by John Bolton, sparked deep concern among Pentagon and State Department officials, the newspaper reported, citing current and former U.S. officials.

The Pentagon complied with the request, but it is not known whether the options for an Iran strike were also provided to the White House or if President Donald Trump knew about it.

The decision to seek options striking Iran was prompted by an incident in September in which three mortars were fired into a diplomatic quarter in Baghdad, the newspaper said. The shells landed in an open lot and no one was hurt.

State Department Secretary Mike Pompeo did not comment on the story when asked about it by reporters and a State Department spokeswoman declined to comment.

Daesh’s Security leader was wounded on Sunday in clashes with the SDF in Fulaytih’s badiyah in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside.

D24 correspondent reported, that Daesh launched a large-scale attack on the SDF positions in the badiyah near Sayjan oil field in the eastern Deir Ezzor countryside, and heavy clashes broke out between Daesh and the SDF, resulting in deaths and injuries among both sides.

According to the correspondent, the SDF arrested this morning the oil tankers owners and sheep shepherds in Fulaytih’s badiyah near Sayjan field, and questioned them.

The SDF also demolished mud huts of civilians in the Fulaytih badiyah, east of Deir Ezzor. The reasons were unknown.

Islamic State (IS) group militants are "living their final moments" in the last enclave they hold near the Iraqi border, where US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are attacking them, an SDF official said on Sunday.

A defeat of the militants in the enclave would wipe out IS's territorial foothold on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River, Reuters said.

A spokesman for the US-led coalition said the SDF was making "great progress ... but the fight continues".

The SDF, a coalition of militias led by the Kurdish YPG, has driven IS from a swathe of northern and eastern Syria with the help of the US-led coalition over the last four years.

The area that IS still holds in Syria represents less than 1 percent of the territory it controlled at its height. The pocket is home to about 15,000 people, including IS fighters and their families. The US military estimates there are about 2,000 remaining IS fighters there, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US counterpart Donald Trump mooted Monday the creation of a "security zone" in northern Syria as tensions rose over the fate of Kurdish fighters in the war-torn country.

In a telephone conversation, the leaders "discussed the idea of creating a security zone cleared of terrorism in the north of the country," the Turkish presidency said in a statement.

Trump confirmed this in a tweet later, but referred to the proposed area as a "safe zone."

This came after Turkey vowed it "will not be intimidated" by Trump's threats of economic devastation if Ankara attacked Kurdish forces as US troops withdraw from Syria.

Trump on Sunday warned the US would "devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds".

Ankara has repeatedly threatened to carry out a cross-border operation against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which have been working closely with the United States in the war on Islamic State (IS) jihadists.

US support for the YPG has been a major source of friction between the NATO allies.

The White House said in a statement that Trump had warned Erdogan against harming Kurdish military units.

"The president expressed the desire to work together to address Turkey's security concerns in northeast Syria while stressing the importance to the United States that Turkey does not mistreat the Kurds and other Syrian democratic forces with whom we have fought to defeat ISIS," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

US is conducting a "suspicious questionnaire" of Iraqi forces in the syria-iraq border area in the Qa'im district of western Iraq according to hashd-ash-shab'i commander qasim musleh. basically they're gathering intelligence on the Iraqi forces under the guise of a survey. the hashd-ash-shab'i prevented the US from completing the survey, calling it a violation of Iraqi sovereignty. The US surveyed the iraq-syria border and asked questions of the border police and Iraqi army, summarizing the number of existing combat points at the border, the amount of ammunition and type of weapons and number of individuals present at each point

SNHR has released its annual special report for the year 2018 which was entitled: “The Crushing of the Society and Dismantling of the State”. The report documents the most notable violations of human rights by the main parties to the conflict in Syria during the last year.

The 80-page report contains a record of the major events that took place in Syria in 2018, and sheds light on the most significant political and military developments that occurred on the Syrian scene in 2018. In addition, the report details the most notable local agreements that resulted in the displacement of hundreds of thousands of residents from their cities, towns and villages. The report, also, includes annual comparisons between the most notable patterns of human rights violations for 2017 and 2018. In addition, the report evaluates the fallout from the conflict with regard to the distribution of areas of control in 2018, which saw a significant expansion of the territories controlled by the Syrian-Russian-Iranian alliance forces at the expense of factions of the Armed Opposition.

The report notes that the SNHR issued nearly 137 reports throughout 2018 concerning several types of the most significant human rights violations, which contained nearly 310 first-person accounts from those injured in attacks and other survivors, paramedics, and “central signal” operators, all of which were collected through speaking directly with eyewitnesses, rather than being cited from any open sources.

Fadel Abdul Ghany, chairman of SNHR, says:“Since 2011, the Syrian regime has perpetrated various forms of brutal violence against society, including the arrest and torture of tens of thousands, and the killing of hundreds of thousands of others, along with the displacement of half of the Syrian people, which has been an intentional and deliberate goal of this ruling authority in order to crush society, punish it and subject it to the rule of the family, forever. Consequently, there is a complete termination of any opportunity or even any idea of a new popular movement due to the high cost paid by the community for demanding freedom, dignity and political pluralistic transition. However, the ruling family hasn’t cared about the material or human cost in order to achieve this brutal goal, even if this causes the dismantling of the entire Syrian state”

According to SNHR’s database, 6,964 civilians, including 1,436 children and 923 women (adult female), were documented as being killed at the hands of the parties to the conflict in 2018. Of this total, 4,162 civilians, including 713 children and 562 women, were killed by Syrian regime forces, and 467 civilians, including 169 children and 51 women, were killed by Russian forces. 2018 saw also the death of 417 civilians, including 175 children and 90 women at the hands of International Coalition forces.

Outgoing IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot this weekend acknowledged for the first time that Israel had indeed provided weaponry to Syrian rebel groups in the Golan Heights during the country’s seven-year civil war.

Until Sunday, Israel would say officially only that it had given humanitarian aid to Syrian opposition groups across the border, while denying or refusing to comment on reports that it had supplied them with arms as well.

In an interview in the British Sunday Times, before ending his tenure as chief of staff this week, Eisenkot said that Israel had indeed provided light weapons to the rebel groups along the border, saying it was “for self-defense.”

Israel’s supply of weapons to these opposition groups has been reported for years — both by the Syrian army, looking to discredit the rebels as stooges of the Zionists, and by the opposition groups, interested in expanding their cooperation with Israel in the fight against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad — but was never confirmed by Israeli officials.

Karbala, Iraq, Jan 16, IRNA - Iran's foreign minister said on Wednesday it was the Iraqi and Syrian people who defeated the Daesh (ISIS) Takfiri terrorist group and the United States had no role in the issue.

Mohammad Javad Zarif made the remarks at Iran-Iraq Joint Trade Conference held in the Iraqi city of Karbal on Wednesday morning with businessmen and officials from the two countries in attendance.

He wondered why the US cannot make any achievement in combating terrorism in other parts of the world and said victory over Daesh in these two countries was due to the struggles of Iraqi and Syrian people who put their live on the line.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the top Iranian diplomat noted if barriers are removed, the volume of trade exchanges between the two countries will exceed the current level.

Zarif noted Iran is ready to reduce tariffs to zero.

He went on to say US has no right to form boundaries between the two neighboring countries.

Iran's foreign minister also announced Iran's preparedness to help reconstruct Iraq.

al-akhbar has obtained a secret cable from the lebanon bureau of the US state dept to lebanon's ministry of foreign affairs regarding syria's participation in the arab economic and social development summit in beirut. the lebanese mission in washington requested advice on syria and in response the state dept said they encourage lebanon and all other member states of the arab league to avoid inviting syria. they urge lebanon to take no steps to contribute to the financial resources of the syrian government, for example, making investments or sending funds for building reconstruction, and that any financial support or other support for the assad regime may be subject to US sanctions.

Gen. Mark Milley is the first senior military official to say the military is proceeding in Syria as Trump wishes.

For the first time, a senior U.S. military official has commented on President Trump’s late-December decision to quit Syria, confirming publicly that American troops are planning to leave once ISIS is defeated on the ground.

“We are determined to finish that off and then hand the battle off to our indigenous partners,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said on Wednesday.

His comments came hours after a suicide bomber killed four people in Manbij, Syria, including two U.S. troops, a Defense Department civilian, and one contractor. Three more were injured in the blast, for which ISIS declared responsibility.

Milley did not say when U.S. troops would leave Syria, but his characterization suggests a change of one mission goal for the Americans, who until Trump’s tweet last December were intending to remain in country until UN-brokered talks reached a peace deal in Geneva. The Trump administration had hoped to negotiate with Russia, Turkey, Iran, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, and other NATO partners. The Army chief’s comment also suggests that mission would not include National Security Advisor John Bolton’s pledge, made last autumn, to keep U.S. troops in Syria as long as Iranian-backed foot soldiers remain there.

While Washington’s ultimate goals are not entirely clear, the U.S. administration appears determined to push Iran’s economy down to the ground, international investors and traders out of the country, and the Iranian people into the streets. For some officials, the objective is to bring Iran back to the negotiating table; for others, to pressure it to curb its regional actions and ballistic missile program; and for still others, to destabilise or even topple the regime.

The JCPOA’s fate now seems to depend on a three-way race against the clock: the U.S. is trying to bring maximum pressure to bear on Iran in the minimum amount of time in the hope that Iran’s economy crumbles; Iran is exercising patience in the hope that the Trump administration fails, becomes distracted or is ousted from power in 2020; and Europe has embarked on an earnest but largely symbolic scramble to prevent the deal’s derailment by offering Iran enough economic and diplomatic incentives for it to remain in the deal without deepening the trans-Atlantic rift.

Against the low probability of renegotiation, given Tehran’s reluctance to validate Trump’s pressure policy, or of regime change, and considering Iran’s extensive experience in surviving economic duress and suppressing dissent, Washington might succeed in strangling Iran’s economy without achieving any of its goals. Instead, it could lead Iran to evade the deal’s nuclear constraints or to use its proxies to target U.S. assets in the region. Both steps in turn could provoke a military confrontation. To add another element of uncertainty: political jockeying in both capitals is likely to increase in the run-up to Iran’s 2020 parliamentary and 2021 presidential elections (and a potential transition to a new supreme leader), and the U.S. presidential election in 2020.

Even assuming the deal survives until these potential turning points, reverting to the status quo ante might not be sustainable. If Trump wins re-election, it would be hard to imagine Iran weathering another four years of crippling sanctions. If a Democratic candidate were to prevail, he or she might well agree to resume U.S. compliance with the deal, but also face strong pressure to fortify the JCPOA, given that in 2024 the sun will set on key limits on Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity.

In other words, at some point in the future there is a high probability that a successor agreement building on the JCPOA will be required. While Iran does not wish to contemplate this scenario at present, the fact is that none of the parties to the JCPOA is fully satisfied with the deal – neither Iran, because even under the Obama administration sanctions relief was insufficient, nor the U.S. or Europe, because certain nuclear constraints will expire relatively quickly and the deal does not limit Tehran’s ballistic missile program and regional activities. The next two years could thus be well spent exploring options for a more sustainable successor arrangement that advances all sides’ interests.

Ultimately, the same calculus that brought Iran and world powers to com-promise after thirteen years of standoff and two years of intensive negotiations, and which has led remaining JCPOA signatories to preserve it without the U.S., still holds: the alternatives to this agreement – a race between sanctions and centrifuges that could culminate in Iran obtaining the bomb or being bombed – would be much worse. They still can and should be avoided.

The no-fly zone failed: since the war started in 2011 a no-fly zone has been on the table. it failed to impose a square centimetre on syria... the abandonment of aleppo will be in return for idlib and the western aleppo countryside

another iskenderun for governor of idlib: after the accumulation of terrorists in idlib, turkey attempted annexation of all under the banner of the muslim brotherhood, & create a large area that includes a people inspired by the ottomans and armed men who are in command. they partially succeeded. then the environment of terrorism and the accessories of the ottoman sultan, without media coverage, exists with plenty in idlib and the aleppo countryside. there was also an attempt to annex parts of northern hama, all of which meant a large area separating two governorates of aleppo. that was obstructed but ankara was able to absorb this and temporarily calmed the storm of victory.

the implementation of plan C originated in iraq, specifically mosul, where the turkish army had 2000 soldiers led by terrorists of various nationalities, then they trained in camp "baishika" with the turkish army, located about 14km north of mosul... the iraqis quickly liberated mosul & thousands of ISIL terrorists disappeared! the turkish army is attempting by way of its 'slaves' to make mosul like a turkish province similar to idlib. plan c has not acheived the desired success even now.

the sochi & astana agreements: the turkish army tested the reaction to its entry into syrian territory, then followed up in the same way, inserting larger forces with the excuse of monitoring the safe areas... they tried to do that with delicacy and failed. the army of the muslim brotherhood supported the confrontation with the kurds and collided with the american-european opposition, and also failed.

the turkish army occupied afrin, and before it cut off the west of the euphrates, a small piece of land for the terrorists, here turkey succeeded

the amended plan "c" began in january 2017 and not the result of chance and not the result of the alleged US decision to pull out of syria. this is what trump said on 25 January 2017, about staying in a safe area within 90 days... the days passed and they weren't able to make a safe square meter as his predecessor obama.

security belt a width of 30km. it is a new amendment to plan c blessed by washington while damascus rejects it and considers it "aggression & occupation" by turkey. the separatists also reject it if only turkey particpates! as aldar khalil says "this area cannot be accepted because it affects syrian sovereignty and syrian administration" observe the fashion and the particular management. what are the separatists planning?

kurdish separatists cannot be trusted. they are fickle (etc) ie aldar said: "it is possible to draw a dividing line between turkey and northern syria by bringing in UN troops to preserve safety & security or pressure turkey to not attack our areas" this is in part of plan 'c', "internationalization of northern syria" and make them under international guardianship. according to our sources this is the goal and saudi arabia's & UAE's involvement iwas not in good faith.

entry of arab military forces, included in plan 'c', so we heard successive news about UAE, saudi & even egyptian troops, all together uner the banner of the UN so that the separatists secure the evil of the turkish army & its followers while not entering the syrian army. the idea of a "small separatist land" is established through self-management under the cover of international & arab legitimacy

here we warn of the entry of any military forces other than the syrian army into the region, because it would be a gift to turkey and the separatist forces at the same time

in warsaw, trump will meet with 70 leaders to try to establish an arab alliance against iran, and will probably not succeed. the problem is none of them forget his confused & forsaken policy in the middle east

Deir Ezzor public hospitals have disastrous conditions, amid negligence and carelessness of the Assad regime.

Where the patients’ guardians are obliged to take care of them because there is a lack of medical staff in those hospitals, in addition to a bad treatment by the a few remaining nurses, adding to it the lack of medicines by 70%, and the medicine in the hospitals is sold to the patients who are supposed to get it free from the hospital pharmacy.

If the patient needs a surgery which is supposed to be free, the doctors takes money for the surgery they perform in these public hospitals.

The hospitals’ corridors also stink because of the poor hygiene and the accumulated dirt, which has become normal in comparison with other things that happen to the patients who visit those hospitals, where one syringe is used to inject more than one patient due to the lack of medical supplies, which leads to the spread of communicable diseases, so the patient’s family have to buy the medical supplies during surgeries, such as sera at high prices.

As for the necessary medical devices in hospitals, most of them were stolen during the siege by some officials in the health sector in association with officers from the Assad forces, headed by the commander of the National Defense Militia in Deir Ezzor “Firas Al-Iraqiyah” in coordination with General “Muhammed Khadour” operational commander of the eastern region and Dr. “Muhammed Najim”, director of Health in Deir Ezzor.

russia will skip the upcoming warsaw conference organized by the US & poland, stating that it will not address all the issues in the middle east such the israel-palestine thing and doesn't consider the influential countries inside & outside the region

because they created ISIL. see these posts: one & two especially the formerly-classified DIA (defense intelligence agency) report obtained through federal a lawsuit. if that surprises you check out the bbc clip at the bottom of the first link

what are the chances the hndreds of ISIL fighters that the US transported escaped from this area:

Deir Ezzor province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights: the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitored the Syria Democratic Forces and the International Coalition forces continuous, to advance in what remained for the “Islamic State” organization at the east bank of Euphrates River, and in the details monitored by the Syrian Observatory: the forces of SDF and the International Coalition have advanced last night, and they were able to control the whole town of al-Baghuz Foqani, and by that, the “Islamic State” organization has lost its last town in the Syrian territory, while the Syria Democratic Forces are sweeping the town in search of those who were hiding in it. They also continue their offensive towards the remaining farms and communities at the east bank of Euphrates River, and the Syrian Observatory monitored a large collapse in the ranks of ISIS members, after the exit of thousands of civilians within 24 hours of the Organization’s enclave after previous exit of thousands of people including hundreds of ISIS members, as well as the death of hundreds of ISIS members in the military operations that began on the 23rd of January 2019, and if the Syria Democratic Forces were able to control the remaining farms; then they will be ending the presence of the Organization in the east of Euphrates completely.

The United States has confirmed that its envoy met the Taliban in Qatar as Washington seeks to negotiate an end to the 17-year-old war in Afghanistan.

Zalmay Khalilzad, US special representative on Afghan reconciliation, on Tuesday, met Taliban representatives in the Qatari capital Doha, the US State Department said.

"We can confirm that Special Representative Khalilzad and an inter-agency team are in Doha today talking with representatives of the Taliban," a State Department spokeswoman said, adding that the talks were taking place over two days.

The Taliban and the US envoys have officially met four times since July, in an attempt to find a negotiated settlement to the war in the embattled country.

However, Wednesday's comments mark the first time the US State Department has confirmed his meetings directly.

the international coalition killed civilians indiscriminately in al-baghuz fawqani. the city routinely suffered coalition raids without distinguishing between ISIL & civilians. aircraft attacked before midnight, vehicles carrying civilians fleeing ISIL, killing a number of them & wounding others. the attack targeted civilians three days after the massacre of 20 civilians after the targeting of families trying to escape ISIL in the town of al-baghuz fawqani

(CNN) The US military has moved additional troops into Syria in recent days to help provide protection to other US service members as they withdraw under President Donald Trump's directive to pullout all US troops from the country, according to two US defense officials. The officials would not reveal where in the country the troops are or how many have been sent.

Defense officials have acknowledged that a security force of armed troops -- possibly infantry -- would be needed to help carry out the withdrawal of US forces over time. The additional troops that have moved in are needed to provide security for troops and equipment as they are moved out by land and air as well a provide additional security on the ground as the number of US forces dwindles, officials said.

The officials said the additional security forces may move around Syria to different locations as needed and may move in and out of the country at times.

They would not indicate if any troop withdrawals have taken place or will happen in the immediate future, citing security concerns.

U.S.-led coalition forces and the YPG/PKK terrorist group are currently negotiating with Daesh militants captured in Syria's eastern Deir Ez-Zor province, local sources said Thursday.

Coalition forces have temporarily suspended operations to give Daesh a chance to surrender in Deir Ez-Zor’s town of Bagoz east of the Euphrates, one local source told Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

Coalition officials, for their part, have yet to confirm the source’s assertions.

In light of the messages conveyed on behalf of Syria by the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, H.E.Mr. Hosni Mubarak and by the Iranian Foreign Minister H.E.Mr. Kamal Kharrazi on behalf of the Iranian President H.E.Mr. Seyid Mohammed Khatemi and by the Foreign Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt H.E. Mr. Amr Moussa, the Turkish and Syrian delegations whose names are in the attached list (annex 1) have met in Adana on 19 and 20 October 1998 to discuss the issue of cooperation in combating terrorism.

In the meeting the Turkish side repeated the Turkish demands presented to the Egyptian President (annex 2) to eliminate the current tension in their relations.Furthermore, the Turkish side brought to the attention of the Syrian side the reply that was received from Syria through the Arab Republic of Egypt, which entails the following commitments :

As of now, Öcalan is not in Syria and he definitely will not be allowed to enter Syria.

PKK elements abroad will not be permitted to enter Syria.

As of now PKK camps are not operational and definitely will not be allowed to become active.

Many PKK members have been arrested and have been taken to court. Their lists have been prepared. Syria presented these lists to the Turkish side.

The Syrian side has confirmed the above mentioned points. Furthermore, the sides also have agreed on the following points:

Syria, on the basis of the principle of reciprocity, will not permit any activity which emanates from its territory aimed at jeopardizing the security and stability of Turkey. Syria will not allow the supply of weapons, logistic material, financial support to and propaganda activities of the PKK on its territory.

Syria has recognized that the PKK is a terrorist organization. Syria has, alongside other terrorist organizations, prohibited all activities of the PKK and its affiliated organizations on its territory.

Syria will not allow the PKK to establish camps and other facilities for training and shelter or to have commercial activities on its territory.

Syria will not allow PKK members to use its country for transit to third countries.

Syria will take all necessary measures to prevent the chieftain of the PKK terrorist organization from entering into Syrian territory and will instruct its authorities at border points to that effect.

Both sides have agreed to establish certain mechanisms for the effective and transparent implementation of the measures mentioned above.

In this context;

a) A direct phone link will immediately be established and operated between the high level security authorities of the two countries.b) The Sides will appoint two special representatives each to their diplomatic missions and these officials will be presented to the authorities of the host-country by the heads of mission.c) The Turkish side, within the context of combating terrorism, has proposed to the Syrian side to establish a system that will enable the monitoring of security enhancing measures and their effectiveness. The Syrian side has stated that it will present this proposal to its authorities for approval and will reply as soon as possible.d) The Turkish and Syrian sides, contingent upon obtaining Lebanon's consent, have agreed to take up the issue of the combat against PKK terrorism in a tripartite framework.e) The Syrian side commits itself to take the necessary measures for the implementation of the points mentioned in this "Minutes" and for the achievement of concrete results.Adana, October 20,1998

For the Turkish DelegationAmbassador Uğur ZiyalMinistry of Foreign AffairsDeputy Under-Secretary For the Syrian DelegationAmbassador Major General AdnanBadr Al-HassanHead of Political Security Affairs

Annex:2

TURKEY'S SPECIFIC DEMANDS FROM SYRIA

In order to normalize our relations, we expect Syria to comply with the basic norms and principles of international relations. In this regard, the following specific demands should be met:

Given the fact that Turkish-Syrian relations were seriously +damaged by Syrian support for terrorism, we want Syria to accept formally its obligations and renounce its previous stand on this matter. These obligations should include a formal commitment not to give terrorists support, sanctuary, and financial assistance. Syria should also prosecute PKK perpetrators and extradite to Turkey the chief of the PKK, Abdullah Öcalan and his collaborators.

Within this framework, Syria should not:

Permit camps for terrorist training to operate in territories under its control,

Provide weapons, logistic materials to the PKK,

Provide fraud identification documents to PKK members,

Help terrorists for their legal passage and infiltration into Turkey,

Permit the propaganda activities of the terrorists organization,

Allow the PKK to operate in accommodations in its territory,

Facilitate the passages of terrorists from the third countries (Europe, Greece, Southern Cyprus, Iran, Libya, Armenia) to northern Iraq and Turkey.

Cooperation in all activities aimed at fighting terrorism.

Refrainment from inciting other countries which are members of the Arab League against Turkey.

In the light of the above, unless Syria rescinds from these acts immediately, with all the consequences, Turkey reserves the right to exercise her inherent right of self-defense, and under all circumstances to demand just compensation for the loss of life and property. Indeed, these views were transmitted to Syria through diplomatic channels on 23 January 1996. However, our warnings have fallen on deaf ears.

... because they US has moved them all to afghanistan, or just across the border to iraq to make trouble for iran

Military operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group in Syria are wrapping up and the last pocket of the group's "caliphate" will be flushed out within a month, a top rebel commander has said.

"The operation of our forces against ISIL in its last pocket has reached its end and ISIL fighters are now surrounded in one area," Mazloum Kobani, the chief of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), told the AFP news agency on Friday.

With the backing of the United States-led coalition, the SDF are in the last phase of the operation that started on September 10 to defeat the ISIL in the Euphrates Valley in eastern Syria.

"We need a month to eliminate ISIL remnants still in the area," said Kobani, who spoke to AFP on Thursday near the northeastern Syrian city of Hasaka.

A few hundred ISIL fighters are defending a handful of hamlets near the Iraqi border, the last rump of a "caliphate" which the organisation proclaimed in 2014 and once covered territory the size of Britain.

"I believe that during the next month we will officially announce the end of the military presence on the ground of the so-called caliphate," Kobani said.

Despite President Donald Trump’s December pledge to withdraw all U.S. forces from Syria, the U.S. government is considering a plan to keep some troops in a remote U.S. base in southeastern Syria to counter Iranian activity, sources tell Foreign Policy.

The al-Tanf garrison, located near Syria’s eastern border with Jordan, was established to help local forces fight the Islamic State militant group. But the base, which sits along a potential Iranian supply route through Iraq to Syria, has also become a critical buttress for combating Iranian influence in the region.

“Al-Tanf is a critical element in the effort to prevent Iran from establishing a ground line of communications from Iran through Iraq through Syria to southern Lebanon in support of Lebanese Hezbollah,” said one former senior U.S. military commander.

A U.S. presence at al-Tanf helps to block Iran’s hopes for a “Shiite Crescent,” a continuous land bridge from Iran through Iraq and Syria to Lebanon. From this position, Iran could threaten Israel.

Under the current withdrawal plan, the more than 200 U.S. troops who have been advising local Syrian fighters out of al-Tanf will be the last to leave the country, officials say. The vast majority of U.S. troops are concentrated in northeast Syria, hundreds of kilometers from al-Tanf. But given the garrison’s strategic importance, sources said the U.S. government is considering a plan to keep at least some forces there.

The significance is not just the strategic location of al-Tanf itself but also a 55-kilometer exclusion zone, about 34 miles around the garrison, that allows U.S. troops to claim self-defense in striking Iranian or other forces moving through that area, said one source close to the discussions. Legally, the United States does not have the authority to attack a state actor such as Iran unprovoked.

“When they come through, we’ve claimed, I think reasonably, that they’ve been threatening either U.S. forces or partner forces,” the source said.

But staying at al-Tanf could raise legal issues for the administration, said one U.S. government official. Experts have argued that the administration would be on shaky ground in using the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force—which authorizes the fight against nonstate militant groups such as the Islamic State or al Qaeda in Afghanistan—to justify maintaining a presence in Syria for any reason other than to fight the Islamic State.

longish story about how the US helped ISIL leader habib abdurrahman escape from an isolated taliban prison in binj (or bing baz) baz, afghanistan. they had help from an al-qaeda operative called aminullah who escaped earlier from the same prison & went to them right away. the americans have bombed taliban positions in western afghanistan (ie closer to iran) in support of ISIL

After the latest Turkey-Russia summit, the debate over a buffer zone between Syria and Turkey turned to the 1998 Adana Accord between Ankara and Damascus on cooperation against terrorism.

In their Jan. 23 meeting, Russian President Vladimir Putin reminded Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of the latter's obligations to ease tensions in northwestern Syria at Idlib, which is under the control of jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Putin brought up the accord and Erdogan said, “Mr. Putin, put this on the agenda. The Adana pact is an important matter. Turkey must work on it. I believe it … will make use of Turkey’s weight in the region.”

The pact was signed after Syria agreed to expel Abdullah Ocalan, leader of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). The deal stipulated naming the PKK as a terror outfit, closing training camps, terminating its organizational and commercial activities, handing over captured militants, preventing PKK leaders from traveling to other countries via Syria and setting up telephone connections between the two countries. The agreement was to be renewed automatically unless one of the parties withdrew, but it fell by the wayside.

Twenty years later, a move to revive the pact will require Ankara and Damascus to work together. Turkish political opposition parties see the reference to the accord as meaning the government must speak with Damascus. Unal Cevikoz, deputy leader of Turkey's opposition Republican People’s Party, said his group is calling on Ankara to establish direct contacts with Damascus.

The underground wealth with which Deir Ezzor province is endowed, has not been able to ensure its people a life free from poverty and destitution, as the practices of the SDF resembled those of the Assad regime, as both of them deprived people of Deir Ezzor from the oil and natural gas of their land.

Since its control over nearly half of Deir Ezzor province, the SDF have followed in the Assad regime footsteps in confiscating the province’s wealth and depriving its people from the large endowments of their land, as the largest oil and gas fields in Syria are located in their land, adding to that dozens of oil wells in this province of the Euphrates.

The SDF took over the oil fields, oil wells and the gas fields located in the areas of Deir Ezzor they control, and the most important of which are Al-Omar field, the largest oilfield in Syria, and the Koniko gas field, also the largest one in the country, and took strict measures that would prevent civilians from approaching or working in oil products produced in these fields, So they formed a special force called the “Wells Protection Committee” to protect the wells and prevent civilians from approaching them.

This Committee was characterized by a lack of integrity, where a number of its leaders, including ( Dumhat, a leader in the Self-Defense force, the leader Abu Layla, and Mohammed Salah) were stealing the oil, smuggling it and then selling it to merchants who transfer it to the areas controlled by the Assad regime, and all that was happening through coordination between the leaders of the Wells Committee and “Khairat Al-Urwah” the official representative of Katerji company, which is one of the Assad regime’s companies, by coordinators of the SDF like (Firass Al-Lyas, Abu Lotfi Al-Homsi, Ahmed Al-Rajwan and Bassam Al-Muazzi).